"SHOWCASE" OF UNITED STATES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23381, 24 June 1939, Page 15 (Supplement)

"SHOWCASE" OF UNITED STATES

goods; Chinese antiquities and streamlined pink bathtubs; priceless furs, books, glass; cosmetics and handwrought silver; yard goods and hot . chocolate with whipped cream —they are all here in the Fifth Avenue'district, the showcase and the show street of America Name for District Visitors will discover that "Fifth Avenue" means more than a single street; by common consent it symbolizes a whole mercantile district, the richest in the world, with several sister avenues and many cross streets sharing its prestige. Parts of near l>y Madison anil l.exngton Avenues teem with smart shops; residential Park Avenue has lately liroken out in its lirst rasli of specialty shops. Parts of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, above Forty-second Street, also shine in the reflected si lory of the great avenue. And there are cross streets that are all important rungs in the ladder of northward creeping trade. Once Fifth Avenue itself was sedate "and residential. with ornate mansions. shade trees, and the wheels of broughams glistening in the sun and dust. Few signs of that age remain. Starting north from the cloud-punctur-ing Empire State Building at Thirtyfourth Street, the sight-seer plunges full into the commercial rapids. In the next eight blocks are most of the A\ •en lie's big department stores, mingled with small chain stores and rubbing elbows with stately emporiums whose names have been familiar for a century. "Crossroads of the World' .j At Forty-second Street, the so-called "crossroads of the world," the stroller j ' passes the Public Library with its com- j placent lions. At Fiftieth Street St. i Patrick's Cathedral stands in. silent; Gothic competition with Rockefeller! Centre, across the way. and at Fiftyfirst the still Jived-in Vnnderbilt house rs a survival of a quieter day. The next few blocks may be called the "plush belt." where ground rents •ire highest, where the shopper pays for ] the label as well as for the article. | where elderly persons look out from ■ club windows, and two hansom cabs j can still be seen elop-clopping through 1 the. traffic, oblivious of time. On any 1 shopping day, rain or shine, the roadway is full of traffic, the sidewalks are thronged. The shops of Fifth Avenue are of three sorts: the luxury stores, which sell apparel and omit liou.se furnishings; the department stores, which sell .almost everything, and the specialty shops, which stick to one kind of mcr- j chandise in all its variations. The luxury stores cater to the car- | riage trade and operate so largely on j a' credit basis that two or three girls! in a small ttiberoom are enough to j

A busy scene in Fifth Avenue

THE people from, many lands who are coming to see the World's Fair have plans to see also that other great show, New York itself, writes Elizabeth R. Duval in The X ew York Their itineraries will include Grant's Tomb and the Rainbow Room, the Planetarium and Chinatown. Rut to many of ♦ '"* *♦•»»* women, the..outStanding attraction wij] be .Fifth

; Avenue and all that it stands for in j luxury and glamour, j Actuallv New York's Fifth Avenue district is a perpetual fair in itself, 300. days of the year. It-is the great bazaar of the Western Hemisphere and the most famous international market ever, developed. Ideas' and produce culled from all over the - world are shown and. sold in the Fifth-Avenue stores. Fine linens- and glossy leather

Why Fifth Avenue Shops All Women

" THE WEEKLY WINDOW VARIETY BILL "

handle all cash sales. They do between 10.000.000 dollars and 15.000.000 dollars worth of business a year. The department stores average between j 20.000.000 dollars and 30i000.000 dolj lars a year in net sales. The specialty | shops range in merchandise from shoes | to emeralds, and their net sales run ! anywhere from 1,000,000 dollars to I to!oOO.OOO dollars. Kvery tiling is so 111 iu Fifth Avenue. ; from a 29,000-dollar sable coat to a 08i cent boose dress. Here it would be possible for a woman to become the ; best dressed in the world, with specially ! designed clothes and jewels, at a cost ' ol perhaps 200.000 dollars. On the other : band, newlyweds can equip a house | from top to bottom in one store for Itws than 1000 dollars. ! Collectors of any specialty froiu i ->ia'mps to perl time can tmd enough to | ->aiisi\ Uieir wilitest ureains. It is pos- ! suite to Ijii \ a hat tor a dollar, or a til iij>seiN-poiiu lace seart tor 2.~>00 doliais; tasiuon shoes for live dollars, or a co-luetic talilu lor -->0 dollars. The Windows A store will carry anything from kangaroo-tail souj) in the delicatessen shop to altar accessories in the religious department. One can buy a special bodied automobile for -1000 dollars, or a second-hand typewriter for 10 dollars. A dining table could be completely equipped in the 10-ceiit stores for under live dollars, or with priceless china and cut crystal for a king's ransom. In short, the range iu both price and merchandise is unlimited. The shop windows of the Filth Avenue district form a glittering and continuous display. Window dressing here has been developed by competition and inner artistic compulsion to the point where it is now a stepped-up art-injected composite "of liarnum's Museum. Hollywood spectacle and the Louvre. Native New Yorkers habitually route their walks to take in the latest instalment of the weekly window variety bill, for no market has ever before spent so many thousands to pull in millions or primed the pump of volume with such a lavish (and slightly berserk) hand. The Shoppers The crowds play a vital part in the daily drama of Fifth Avenue. They move in a steady stream at two and alialf miles an hour, faster than a sightseer, slower than a messenger. On a good day MO.-IGo people an hour pass Forty-second Street. Fifth Avenue pedestrians are a welldressed lot, assured and good-humoured. The women shoppers include the suburban mother, leading a stolid child by the hand; the slick, too perfect professional beauty; her well-married and I more casual former running mate; hat- I less and very extrovert debutantes; 1 consciously smart women executives; the rather intimidating elderly woman who is driven up in a maroon landaulet; frank-faced college girls in pastel tweeds, and their younger sisters, j overdrawing allowances and living in a j fashion world all their own. All those types and many more can i be picked out of the festive throng pouring up and down the avenue and all can find a shop to their taste.

To cater successfully to such n variety of. shoppers, gives the merchants ot 1* ifth Avenue something to think about. How they proceed in their work may he seen by tracing the history of one hypothetical dress. Before the dress appears, on the scene the general merchandising manager. who is the acting head of the store, confers with the department buyer about budget and fashion policy. Then the buyer makes a trip to manufacturers and wholesalers in the United States or abroad, acting as both talent scout and purchasing agent. Fhe dress is seen, liked, bought. If a European import, it may sometimes be bonded in. which means that it is here on a "visitor's permit" to be shown and copied only, and not sold. Once in the store, the dress is viewed bv the assistant buyer, then given to the head of stock, who has "charge of its welfare till it is sold. It is priced at a mark-up of anywhere from. 30 to 100 per cent. The salesgirls are notified ef its existence and its selling points Meanwhile, it has probably been advertised. and the display department may have borrower! it for the window or a mannequin worn it on the floor. Amazing Bazaar The customer arrives, dithers around a while and finally buys. The dress then goes to the wrapping desk, where it is either put aside for'true!? delivery or wrapped at once by a dextrous girl and handed to the waiting customer. The large firms deliver, on the average, 12.000 packages a day. The visitors will not be aware of these wheels within .wheels. They will see only the amazing bazaar, the glittering. glamorous showcase and shopping centre, that it is to any outsider. But they surely will remember it as an astounding show in itself, a perpetual Fair.